US domestic scrap settles up in the East coast in January

The US domestic scrap market has settled up on the East coast. Sources inform SteelOrbis that trading was driven by the benchmark established in Detroit toward the end of last week with offers to mills up $25-30/gt ($30/mt) on cuts and obsolete grades and $20/gt ($20/mt) on prime grades compared to December settled prices. The national upward trend mirrored the one in December, although December changes on the East coast were more pronounced due to export demand. The increases on the East coast per specific grades are noted in the table below.

Sources inform SteelOrbis that some mills are not buying high inventory levels as they seek to gauge the market closely for the next several months. Additionally, several sources noted that the quantity of prime grades purchased including busheling grade was limited.

Due to weather conditions, positive market sentiment, and tight scrap supply, sources are predicting positive expectations will continue in the February scrap buy-cycle.

*In mt terms, the top number denotes change from the bottom of the previous range and bottom number denotes change from the top of the previous change.